— 31 — 



The ichtiological fauna of the Behring sea is compari- 

 tively well studied, but unfortunately it is only the shore 

 fauna; the fauna in the great depths has yet to be studied. 



The shore of Kamtchatka has only just been started 

 to be explored, to say nothing of the more northern parts. 

 The existing deep-waters already explored are only made 

 by Albaftross and the chiefly refer to that part of the 

 Behring sea, which is nearest to the American shore. The 

 American shore, beginning from the Californian Gulf, as 

 far as the Barrou cape have been minutely explored. 



No extentive work exists of Kamtchatka, since the 

 time of Pallas; American naturalists occasionally found 

 collected material, as well as also for learned Russians 

 (Herzensteins labour was not finished). 



As charactiristic of the sea near the Commander 

 Islands molluscs must be mentioned. The existing works 

 of Russians, as well as foreigners about the mollusc-fauna, 

 giving the description of mollusks found in the littoral and 

 laminar zone; occassional} 7 dredges were placed to a 

 depth of 30 fathoms or more (Vega). The characteristic 

 of the water round the Commander Islands is, that it con- 

 tains very little lime (calcareous salt) and the result of 

 which is the compativelly thin shell even of large species. 

 The forms of other classes of animals, that require lime 

 (lime-sponges, rhizopodes) are represented in a small 

 number of ways, but forms requiring silex are plentiful. 

 The number of molluscs species is not large, but the 

 existing species are shown in great individual quantities. 

 As for extensioness and quantit}' the Mytilus take the 

 first place, the remainder of which lie in heaps on the 

 shore and form considerable masses in the sand-hills. 



This is good food for the natives (in a raw state), also for 

 a quantity of sea-fish and sometimes animals. Then comes 

 the Mactra Grayana, which does not attain such a large 

 size, as in the Okhotsk sea and the most northern Islands 

 of the Behring sea. The natives only make use of those, 

 that are washed in by storm; the rest of the Mactra de- 



